


remembrance

by gossamerthoughts



Series: journey to namorn (will of the empress) [3]
Category: Emelan - Tamora Pierce
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:02:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25701043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gossamerthoughts/pseuds/gossamerthoughts
Summary: The night after her kidnapping, Sandry can't sleep. Briar paces. They comfort each other.Will of the Empress, Briar/Sandry. Oneshot told in 3 parts.(originally posted on FF.net)
Relationships: Briar Moss/Sandrilene fa Toren
Series: journey to namorn (will of the empress) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863922
Comments: 5
Kudos: 12





	remembrance

**I. REMEMBRANCE**

Sandry lay shivering in her bed, remembering. Remembering the darkness. Remembering the helplessness. Remembering, remembering. She had never been so afraid or angry in her life.

She tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable position, but to no avail. Her memories drowned her, and more than once she had to shake her head to clear it. _Stop being so weak,_ she told herself. _Fin is taken care of._

_No thanks to you,_ another voice in her head said.

It was true. Her magic stripped from her, all she could do was call for help, like any other weak, useless noble. And if there was anything Lady Sandriliene hated, it was that. "Good for naught but to marry," she whispered, remembering. Namorn was trying to make her like that, trying to turn her into nothing but an ornament in the court of the Empress.

Sandry sighed. There was no chance of sleeping tonight.

* * *

Briar paced in his room, worried thoughts clouding his mind. _I should have stayed with her and made sure she was all right._ He almost walked out the door, but paused with his hand on the knob. _What if she doesn't want me there?_ he thought. _I'll just stay here… If she needs me._

* * *

Sandry paced. It was better than trying to sleep. Somehow, as she tried to drift off, her subconscious kept going to the one who had answered her call for help first. She had been nearly incoherent with fear, and a tiny part of her was disgusted at herself, but she couldn't help it. After all she was in the dark. Alone, in the dark, with no magic. Fin had known exactly how to get her.

But Briar had come. He had talked of his travels, finally, but only of those little things he knew Sandry would be interested in, stored in his memory just for her sake…

His face, with those emerald eyes burning like beacons, was imprinted into her memory. She remembered his dark fury, and she was grateful. Tris and Daja too were furious, but they didn't have the brooding anger Briar possessed. Tris's fury was like the lightning storms she controlled, boiling and boiling and blinding in a flash of white-hot light, gone before you knew it. Daja wasn't the type to anger easily, but her anger was like the metal she shaped, growing hotter and hotter until it burned to the touch. Sandry was grateful for all of them, but she remembered Briar.

Strangely, she wanted someone to hold her, to wrap their arms around her, to comfort her. She hadn't wanted that since she was ten and Prisi died. But the dark had a way of reawakening her childish needs and fears. Her thoughts immediately turned to Briar. She hesitated with a hand on the cold doorknob, wondering if it was right thing to do. She didn't know, but it didn't matter. Sandry turned the knob and continued walking.

* * *

Briar heard a tentative knock on the door, and flung it open. Sandry stood there, almost shyly, he would have said, if he didn't know her better. "Can I come in?" she asked softly, taking in his shirtless state. "Or are you… busy?"

"I was just…" Briar paused. He couldn't quite remember why he didn't have a shirt on. "Never mind. Come in."

Sandry sat at the edge of the bed, and he plopped down beside her. He stared at her, wondering where the fearless Sandry he knew had gone. This girl was so weak and delicate, the complete opposite of the wrathful noble that had spoken to Berenene mere hours ago. _Curse_ you, Fin, he thought angrily. _If I ever get my hands on you…_

It wouldn't be any use to ask if Sandry was okay. It was obvious that she wasn't. "Do you want to talk?" he asked quietly, searching her watery blue eyes. It seemed like she was on the brink of tears. Crying girls scared him somewhat (he was a _man_ after all), but Sandry definitely had a right to, after tonight.

"It's just… I'm so scared, Briar! I want to go home," she sniffed. "I'm sorry," she whispered, looking up at him through wet lashes, "I sound like a petulant child…"

Briar had to grin. She really did. "It's all right, Duchess," he replied easily. She almost broke down sobbing at that, and he cursed himself mentally.

"Don't call me that," she hissed, her voice hoarse from trying to hold back the tears. "It's because of that that all this happened!"

"I'm sorry, Sandry," Briar whispered. "Really, I am."

Sandry had never heard Briar apologize like that before, without any trace of childish resentment. His apology was filled with pure remorse now. It was obvious how much he had changed. She missed those innocent days at Discipline, but she knew they could never go back to being children. Everything had changed. _They_ had changed. They had all grown up, and she realized that now. But that didn't mean that they had to shut each other out. Without meaning to, without realizing how it would sound, Sandry said, in a voice so soft Briar almost missed it, "Can I sleep with you tonight?"

His eyes widened, and Sandry say his jaw move up and down silently.

"Not like that," she quickly backpedaled.

"Of course not!" Briar replied hastily. "I never even thought of it like that…" he coughed.

Sandry snorted, her fear ebbing away. With Briar, everything seemed all right. She didn't want to go back to her dark, cold room. Ever. "Prisi used told hold me when I was scared," she explained, "and I miss that. I know, it's so childish of me."

Briar smiled. "I know how it feels. Why else do you think-"

"I do not want to know about your sex life right now, Briar Moss," she snapped.

Briar blushed, but felt the need to explain himself. He wasn't a man-whore, for goodness sake! "No, listen to me, Sandry. It wasn't about that. It was never about that. It's just that when you have another human being with you, close to you, it's easier to forget." He added in an undertone, "I need to forget."

"Briar, what happened in Yanjing?" Sandry asked gently. She could see now that nightmares shadowed his eyes.

"Not tonight, Sandry." He was the one supposed to be comforting her. How had the tables turned?

Wanting to distract her from his personal horror story, Briar grabbed the blankets and laid down, grinning impishly at her. "You coming, or what?"

She smiled, and laid down beside him, her back against his chest. He wrapped his arms protectively around her, and she mumbled something intelligible.

"Good night, Sandry," he murmured.

"Good night."

* * *

**II. OPPOSITES ATTRACT**

Long after she had fallen asleep, Briar gazed at her peaceful face. He remembered a time long ago, when they were just an ebony-haired boy and a honey-haired girl. He remembered her stubbornness and determination. He remembered her bravery, her willingness to fight for what she believed in. He remembered the puppy. Perhaps that's when he had first fallen in love. No, not in love yet. In _like_ , maybe. He smiled at the childish word. As a child, there were no boundaries. Noble or not, he didn't think of the future. You see a pretty girl, and what did you do? You kiss her. And that's what a ten-year-old Briar did.

Except he didn't quite know how, or where, and ended up pecking her ear, his face in those soft, thick braids. They both giggled, and life moved on. But it was his first kiss, and he would always remember it.

Looking at Sandry now, he realized how much she had changed from that obstinate little girl with plaits. Her hair was loose now, thick and long, spilling over the both of them like sunlight. He could see the shadows that were embedded in her soul, and knew that there was something she wasn't telling him, just as he hid things from her. Perhaps she hadn't been so safe at home after all, he thought. Briar had grown up and seen the world, seen war and destruction, seen evil at its worst. He thought none of the girls would understand, least of all Sandry, who was holed up in Duke's Citadel.

_Maybe I was wrong_ , he thought, and wondered when his childhood crush had blossomed into a deep, blooming love, then laughed at the absurdity of it all. _Since when did I become so mushy and romantic?_

He sobered up quickly, though. This was real. And he wasn't ten anymore. Now, more than anything, he could see the consequences.

It was wrong for Sandry to be with him like that, and he doubted that she would even want to. He had been with a different girl every night, and from what Tris and Daja told him, Sandry had kissed fewer boys than the fingers he had on one hand. She was pure, and he was anything but. She was destined to be a ruler; he had been born a street rat.

But he could also see that there was no noble worthy of her. They were all stupid, preening _kaqs_ , unworthy to rule by her side when the time came. Hope glimmered in him, and that was enough. To know they might have a chance, though he had no idea whatsoever what her feelings were toward, was enough.

He was going to make her love him, and that was that. He grinned and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

**III. ASSURANCES**

_"I'm gonna make you love me  
Oh yes I will, yes I will…"_

_\- The Temptations_

* * *

_BRIAR!_ two mind-voices screamed. Briar started, hands over his ears.

_What do you want?_ he asked grumpily. _I_ was _sleeping._

_Where's Sandry?_ they asked simultaneously. _We checked her room, and her bed was empty…_

Briar quickly showed them Sandry through his eyes, sleeping peacefully. Somehow, as she slept, she had cuddled closer, and her face was now buried deeply in his chest.

_Oops_ , Briar thought _,_ for what seemed like the millionth time. _Hadn't meant to show them that._

_Briar_! Tris hissed _. You guys weren't doing… you know what, were you?_

_No, no!_ Briar was shocked. Did they really think he would stoop that low, to sleep with a girl in _that way_ after she had just been traumatized? _She has_ clothes _on, Coppercurls,_ he snapped. _She was crying, and asked if she could sleep here…_

_It's all right,_ Daja soothed. _Look how peaceful and happy she is._

_All right_ , Tris grumbled. _But don't you dare try anything, thief-boy. Or we'll have to hurt you._ Briar could feel her grin through their connection, and knew that Tris, like Rosethorn, had a bark worse than her bite.

_Why do I always get blamed?_ he complained. _But I promise you, Coppercurls. I would never hurt her._ He sent her a mental wink, and the connection disappeared.

"Mmmm…" Sandry mumbled, snuggling closer. Briar froze.

Her eyes flew open, and she looked about wildly. "What in the world- oh, Briar, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-" she babbled as she tried to disentangle herself from his arms. They both found that they missed the warmth, but neither of them would admit it just yet.

_I'm going to make you love me, Sandry,_ Briar thought determinedly.

He didn't know that she already did.

**END.**

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaand that's a wrap for my walk down memory lane (i.e. Will of the Empress drabbles). Hope you enjoyed xo


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